Giving birth is like preparing for a marathon!

This weekend will see thousands of people taking part in the Sydney Marathon and it occurred to me this week how often I use the analogy that preparing for birth is like preparing for a marathon.

I won’t lie, giving birth is a physically and mentally demanding event. And like I tell the women and birth partners who attend one of my hypnobirthing and childbirth preparation courses, it is wonderful that they have invested the time and money to come along to the course, but once the course ends the REAL training begins!

Just as if someone who signs up to run a marathon may go to a personal trainer and be provided with a training programme, feel hugely inspired and come away feeling pumped about what lies ahead and their ability to achieve it, if they don’t train in the months leading up to the big race then they aren’t giving themselves the best chance when they line up at the start line.

Woman and birth partners also need to train in the lead up to the day of their baby’s birth – both mentally and physically. Like any other significant life event (and there are arguably none more significant than the birth of your baby) we need to prepare our mind and body for meeting our baby. When you do this using the knowledge, techniques, and support that a Hypnobirthing Australia course offers, you are giving yourself the best possible starting point.

If I continue to use the analogy that giving birth is like running a marathon, I don’t know if your birth experience will be one where you run round the course in a short period of time requiring no support from anyone else and make giving birth look easy, or whether perhaps you will need some assistance from your support-crew, have to stop and walk at times and take a little longer to finish.

But you WILL finish!

You ARE going to cross the finish line!

And whilst there are no medals for giving birth (there should be right??!!) the prize you get when you finish is the BEST PRIZE EVER! When you are holding your beautiful little baby in your arms for the first time I want you to feel like the winner that you are!

So please, please, please use the time leading up to the day of your baby’s birth wisely to train your mind and body so you can enjoy the journey leading up to and across the finish line!